


and you remember what they would have wanted

by PoisonousCephalopod



Series: and you remember [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: Confused Leia Organa, Crack Treated Seriously, Darth Vader Redemption, Fix-It, Gen, Leia doesn't get tortured, Vader destroys the Death Star
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:34:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28541865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoisonousCephalopod/pseuds/PoisonousCephalopod
Summary: Darth Vader has caused the deaths of everyone he has ever loved and can't bring himself to torture a girl who looks just like his wife and talks with all the fire of his former Padawan. So he goes with her.
Relationships: Leia Organa & Darth Vader
Series: and you remember [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2094576
Comments: 54
Kudos: 243





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this entire thing in one day and my brain is slightly fried so I apologize if there are any massive errors that I missed. Second chapter should be up very soon, it's already written and just needs to be posted.

The girl Vader's supposed to torture is short, with chestnut hair twisted up around her head in a way that looks too much like a headdress, and she glares at him with Padmé Amidala's eyes.

The longer he looks, the worse the resemblance gets. The shape of her jaw, the slope of her nose. The way she stands--stubborn and graceful all at once, even in cuffs, even in a prison cell.

He tries to make himself move, but he can't.

_Not again._

It is the only thing in his head, repeating over and over, all his thoughts slurring together. _Not her not again I can't hurt her I CAN'T._

The girl examines him, somehow managing to look like she's looking down at him even with the massive height difference. "I thought the Emperor's favorite dog would be more intelligent. What, are you going to stand there all day?"

\--Her face and bearing are all Padmé, but the words coming out of her mouth sounds like Ahsoka. _His old apprentice,_ he tries to correct, but the distant title doesn't stick. 

She sounds like Ahsoka, who had grown up beautiful and strong and promised to never leave him again only to die by his hand. Ahsoka, who he can't bring back either.

The torture droid starts to extend a needle arm, evidently giving up on a cue from Vader, and he raises a hand. "No. She is not to be harmed."

He knows immediately that he means it, as illogical as it is, as much as it goes against his goals--Sideous's goals, he reminds himself. Not his.

It has been a long time since Vader has felt alive enough to want anything, but a passion he's almost forgotten how to feel is bubbling up in his chest, possessive and protective. He will not harm this girl. Nor will he allow her to be harmed by anyone else.

The princess scoffs. "Not to be harmed? I was under the impression harming me was your entire purpose in coming here."

"My purpose is to gather information," Vader corrects.

She cocks her hip, and Vader has a feeling that if her arms weren't bound, they'd be crossed over her chest. "And when I don't give you your information?" she asks.

"That would be unwise."

"I disagree."

Vader sighs, the sound low and rumbling through his vocoder. "I am not the only one on this battlestation who desires the location of the Rebel Base, Princess. I suggest you not give Tarkin an excuse to test this station's destructive capabilities on a planet you care about."

"You're a monster," she snarls at him. "You and everyone in your stars-forsaken Empire, and someday you will face justice."

"That was a warning, Princess, not a threat. I am not the one who controls this battle station. If the ones who do decide to use it, I cannot stop them."

She sneers at him. "Only because you're too much of a coward to go against your precious Emperor."

Vader flinches, more in surprise than anger.

He can't remember the last person who dared call him a coward. He's not sure there's _been_ one, in all the years he's been Vader.

"You underestimate the strength of my Master," he says. "He is not an easy man to kill."

The princess gapes at him, and it occurs to him that it probably comes as a surprise to her that the Emperor's most trusted lieutenant would so quickly jump to the idea of killing him.

"What," she says, incredulous. "Have you _tried?_ "

Vader looks down at her. "I would not be successful."

"You wouldn't need to murder the Emperor to destroy the Death Star," she retorts.

He cocks his head to the side. It's probably true. Despite the disgusting amount of credits poured into the monstrosity, it had not been very well designed. He had counted at least seven critical flaws that could easily blow up the entire station if exploited, and one of those was easily accessible enough it could be triggered by a single fighter pilot. "I would not," he admits.

The fiery, vindicated look in her eyes reminds him of Padmé after a particularly intense Senate speech. "Then you have no excuse."

"It would be foolish to relinquish my advantage against the Emperor by acting against him now."

Tongues of disbelief flicker from the princess in the Force. "Are you _actually_ telling me about your plans to assassinate the Emperor?" she says. "If you're this open with everyone you capture, then I can assure you, you have already lost the advantage of surprise."

"The Emperor is well aware I want him dead," Vader says, finding himself, against all reason, amused. "I speak of the advantage of proximity."

The princess shakes her head. "That's ridiculous."

"It is not. It is the way of the Sith."

Her eyes bore into his, hard chips of black diamond. "What do you want from me, Lord Vader? This is not a normal interrogation."

Vader looks her up and down, It's stupid, and sentimental, but the mere thought of anything happening to this girl burns. "For you to stay alive. Unharmed."

Her gaze doesn't budge. "Why?"

"That is none of your concern."

"I rather think it is, Lord Vader," she says, raising her chin.

She is so brave, it hurts. Stupidly, recklessly brave. The memories are too old for it to feel familiar, but it still makes his heart clench. "You will get yourself killed by speaking this way, Princess. I hope you watch your mouth more carefully in the presence of other imperial officers."

"If you care so deeply for my safety," she snaps, "Why did you bring me here?"

Vader's fingers twitch. "It was not a consideration at that time."

She snorts. "And it suddenly is now? _"_

_"Yes."_

_He needs her out of here, he realizes. If he really does want to protect her, she can't stay here, not with the station under Tarkin's command._

__If he really does want to protect her._ _

What he's considering now, going against Sidious to save a _single rebel prisoner,_ is ridiculous. It's even more foolish and pointless than blowing up the Death Star would be. 

Sidious doesn't care about the princess of Alderaan. It won't even be a blow against him. 

Vader imagines doing nothing. Leaving her in her cell. Standing by, later, while Tarkin uses the weapon on her homeworld and she collapses, screaming. Watching her execution on Imperial broadcast. 

He sees Ahsoka, snarling at Tarkin as he blows Shili to pieces. He sees Padmé, standing regal as a stormtrooper's blaster bolt burns through her satin dress. 

He can't. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leia reacts to being kidnapped from the Death Star by Vader

Leia is pretty sure she's hallucinating. She must be, because there's no other explanation for what's currently happening.

She had _not_ been abducted--she refused to think 'rescued'--from the Death Star by _Darth Vader._ It hadn't happened. This was some kind of twisted mind game, caused by the torture droid's drugs or Vader's force powers. He hadn't walked her onto a Lambda shuttle, programmed an astromech droid from the imperial hanger to fly her off the battle station, and then proceeded to somehow blow up the entire, moon sized hunk of metal with a single TIE fighter. That _hadn't happened._

Except it had been hours now since R11 had sent her shuttle into hyperspace, and Leia was beginning to think maybe it had. 

If it hadn't been for the destruction of the Death Star, and the fact that it had been _Darth Vader_ who had done it, she would have believed this was all some elaborate ploy to fake a defection and try to get the location of the base out of her that way. But R11 had been careful to stay in the system just long enough for Leia to see the bright flare of the explosion, and everything Vader had done was too ludicrously unbelievable for it to have been staged.

_What. The. Kriff._

Leia gave up on yet another attempt to slice into the shipboard computers and wrest control of the craft away from R11, falling back into the pilot's seat with a sigh.

This was happening. What she couldn't understand was _why._

What was even more confusing was that she was pretty sure that to Vader, the _abduction_ had been the important part of this gambit. Blowing up the Death Star had seemed almost an _afterthought._ She didn't think it'd even occurred to him until he'd happened to see R11 rolling through the hanger.

That Darth Vader could decide to blow up the Death Star and then just casually _do it,_ after so many people had sacrificed their very lives to get those plans was _infuriating._

Leia supposes she should be grateful--if not to him, then to the universe in general--for the countless other lives that have been saved, but she struggles to feel anything more pleasant than a faint _"Well, at least it wasn't worse."_

Her entire crew is dead, she's had to prepare herself to be tortured and executed, and now she's been as good as kidnapped by _Darth Vader._

It's hard to be optimistic.

They finally exit lightspeed in an empty system somewhere in the Chommel sector, landing on a rocky moon with breathable atmosphere but no visible life. R11 informs her this is a rendezvous point, and Leia wonders whether she should be disappointed or relieved that he's not just leaving her here.

His ship appears in the sky only a few minutes after hers, covered in carbon scoring and flying just a little bit crooked, and the damage makes everything seem more real.

"Princess," he addresses after jumping from his cockpit, inclining his head respectfully--and when has _Darth Vader_ ever looked at anyone _respectfully?_

"You blew up the Death Star," she says, half expecting him to contradict her.

"Yes," he answers, though his attention seems to be on her, looking her up and down. "It would have been foolish to leave such a weapon in Sidious's hands after deciding to defy him. Come, girl,"

He turns abruptly, striding towards the ramp of what Leia has begun to think of as _her_ shuttle, and she is forced to run to catch up with his long-legged lope.

"That's _princess_ to you," she snaps, indignant. 

He doesn't respond or slow, but Leia could _swear_ she feels a twist of amusement in his oppressive presence. 

He drops into the pilot's seat without a look in her direction, and Leia, not to be outdone, hurries to strap herself into the copilot's seat.

That does get a look. Leia thinks he might be surprised, but it doesn't seem to bother him because he quickly turns back to the controls. 

She raises her chin and looks him in the face, guessing at the location of his eyes. "Where are you trying to take me?"

"I have not yet decided," his voice rumbles.

"Alderaan," she snaps immediately, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Somewhere with less imperial presence," he says back, easing the ship up out of the atmosphere.

Leia blinks. She hadn't actually expected him to take her suggestion into account.

The only other places she wanted to go however, were either planets with strong rebel sympathies or the rebel badass itself, and she didn't want Vader anywhere _near_ any of _those._

"What are you even trying to do?" she asks. 

He is silent for a long moment, and Leia has long since decided he's not going to answer when he finally does. "What are _you_ trying to do?"

"Destroy the Empire and restore democracy," It's a knee jerk response, something she's repeated to herself over and over whenever she needs to remember what she's fighting for.

Democracy. The Empire.

Freedom.

Vader nods, slowly and with an unexpected solemnity. "We shall do that then."

Leia fists her hands in her skirt, suddenly unsteady. "... I'm not taking you to the alliance."

"They are an impotent force anyway," Vader says. "We will not need them."

Leia wants to be angry at him for dismissing her parent's entire life's work as an _impotent force,_ but it seems to work in her favor, so she pushes her instinct to argue aside.

She's beginning to understand Vader, she thinks. He's dangerous, yes, and intelligent, but also impulsive to an extent she never would have imagined, and strangely lost without the Emperor dictating his every objective. 

The Emperor, who he apparently _hates._

The thought of Darth Vader of all people going on a one-man crusade to restore democracy is possibly the most ridiculous thing she's heard in her entire life, but out of all the sentient beings in the galaxy, he's also the one most capable of actually doing it. All he needs is someone to direct him.

Leia is not entirely sure how she feels about being that someone, but she also knows that if he's serious, this isn't an opportunity she can pass up.

"You said you wanted to go somewhere with less of an Imperial presence." She purses her lips. "We're pretty close to Hutt space, aren't we? Why don't we start there?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> News! I have decided I will be continuing this besides these two chapters, and have made this into a series so anyone interested in reading that when it comes out can subscribe to it.
> 
> Wow, it was fun to write something this short and be able to actually POST IT for once. I have two other Star Wars fics I've been working on for the last month or two that I still haven't been able to post because I want to build up a chapter buffer first and it was nice to finally get something up.


End file.
